


Family

by Cre_no



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Found Family, My First Work in This Fandom, NOT STARKER - Freeform, Not Beta Read, Team as Family, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark-centric, and he loves Peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 07:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15636474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cre_no/pseuds/Cre_no
Summary: Tony Stark tries to think of the right word to describe his and Peter's relationship.-just Tony thinking about how much he cares about Peter and his place in his menti's life.





	Family

Peter Parker had been on Tony Stark’s mind a lot these days. After the Vulture, the man had realized that the kid wasn’t like a houseplant he could check in on once every three weeks and then leave to fend for itself. He was a living, human child out in the world swinging through Queen in a better-than-spandex suit who needed guidance. The kid didn’t exactly have someone around to show him how to balance being a superhero and an American teenager. It was easy to forget, sitting in his lab watching spider-man videos on Youtube, that the man behind the mask hadn’t spent years cultivating his super hero present, he was a young man navigating towards an uncertain future.

So, Tony had a lot to think about, and a whole lot more to learn. Over time their communications evolved from daily updates through Happy, to weekly phone calls, to weekly in-person check ins at the tower to where they are now. Now Peter is over twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays when May had the night shift and couldn’t be home. Now The two could talk about everything under the sun with little to no awkwardness. Tony found himself making a conscious effort to be more emotionally available to the kid, even if it was a slow road to complete openness. Somewhere along the way, Peter became another reason to keep trying.

As he sat in his lab, Peter in the bench next to him mumbling about school work and decathlon, Tony asked himself what this all meant. Did this make him like the kid’s uncle? No, that was a special place for Ben Parker, a mantle for deceased hero. He entertained the idea of it really just being a mentor-menti thing, but even Tony wasn’t so emotionally constipated to think that was all this was. Not for the first time, the idea of being the teen’s father snuck into his mind. They were certainly close enough to be mistaken for it, and he essentially had shared custody with May, so why not? Still, no matter how much sense that idea made, it didn’t quite seem to fit.

It’s not that Tony wouldn’t be thrilled to have a kid like Peter Parker, the kid was any parents dream baby. The kid was smart, endlessly kind, brave, adorable. Anybody would be lucky to have him as a son, Tony included. The only problem was, Tony didn’t much see himself as a father. No matter how many times Pepper and Rhodey told him that he might as well be, or how many knowing looks Happy gave him when he came with to pick Peter up to school, it didn’t quite seem right to Tony. Maybe it was because the kid had lost so many people that he was unwilling to take up the role. Each death had imprinted on Peter, drove him to become the man he was today, shaped him into Spider-man. Tony felt wrong trying to take up that place in Peter’s life, like he would somehow be stepping on the importance of Richard Parker in the making of Peter. So no, maybe not a father.

This still left the question of what Tony was to Peter. What could he say to put into words the nature of their relationship?

When Tony looked up from the mess of wires and mettle in front of him to see the equally disheveled appearance of the bussy teen it struch him. It didn’t matter what the name was. Not really. All that mattered was that they were family. Even if the english language hadn’t been smart enough to come up with a word specifically for their version of it yet. They love and fight for each other in a way that only family can. They don’t need a special name for it to be important. Being an uncle or a father or a whatever wouldn’t automatically guarantee the love of the kid sitting next to him, and if that’s true, then fuck trying to label it.

Peter is family, and Tony is going to love him and take care of like it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction in quite a few years. It's not anything special but I needed to get the idea out of my head. Thanks for taking the time to read it!


End file.
